Leftover Fried Chicken Sandwiches (From Animal!) Are An Embarrassment to Us All

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What are you thinking about? Just do it!

After 4 years living in NYC, I was super excited to move back to L.A. The Midtown Lunch’ish food here is out of control good, and I think “The Guru” was right to call this the best place in the world to eat right now in Saveur (sorry, contrarian guy from the Jewish Journal.) There is nothing wrong with the food scene in this city… it’s amazing. But I wish I could say the same for the people! (Not you of course. I’m talking about your boring co-worker who would rather eat at a salad for lunch than a fried chicken sandwich.)

Case in point: Yesterday Cart for a Cause, the food truck that hits the street every Tuesday with a $10 lunch made by a celebrity chef to benefit Meals on Wheels, was in front of the Pacific Design Center (on San Vicente and Melrose). The $10 lunch? An out of control good, unbelievably huge, fried chicken sandwich served with corn on the cob, a cookie, and a drink by the boys from Animal- Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo.

Check it out after the jump…

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This was honestly one of the best lunches I’ve had since I moved here, and for $10 I felt like I was stealing from the charity the cart was meant to support. If you’ve ever been to Animal (on Fairfax) you know these guys can cook, and to get lunch from them for $10 is a steal.  I’d usually be down on a super thick chicken breast, but they managed to cook it perfectly.  So moist, it was a miracle of modern food science.  A miracle they need to share with every other restaurant in this city.  (There are way to many bad chicken sandwiches in this tow.)

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So… where were all the people?! It was a decent showing, don’t get me wrong, but at 2pm when they packed up the truck to leave there was fried chicken left over. Seriously?!

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You could blame it on publicity. “Oh, I didn’t know about it.” Or “I thought they were serving the same thing as last week!” (They were on the truck last Tuesday as well, serving two different dishes.) Or the “I couldn’t get away from work”. Or “It was too far to drive.” All valid excuses… but that’s not the reason the truck didn’t sell out of fried chicken sandwiches. The reason they didn’t sell out is because too many people who work near Melrose and San Vicente thought to themselves “I can’t eat fried chicken for lunchtime on a Tuesday!”

The real kick in the balls was just a few blocks away. Urth Cafe? Packed. Le Pain Quotidien? Packed! It’s just not right. And not because it was for charity, but because it’s delicious fried chicken. Made by amazing chefs. For $10!?!?!

Hopefully it won’t deter Jon and Vinny. They told Squid Ink last month that they were looking into opening a second restaurant… possibly a sandwich place!? And you know it would be open for lunch! (Please jeebus, let it be open for lunch.) Obviously they couldn’t afford to sell this sandwich for $10 (yesterday was for charity), but I’d be willing to be pay $12 or $14 for it. Shit, who I’m a kidding. I’d probably pay $20. Damn that thing was good. I considered buying the leftovers yesterday, and locking myself in my house for 3 days… just me and a pile of fried chicken sandwiches. Maybe next time.

Cart For a Cause hasn’t announced who will be on the truck next Tuesday. But to stay on top of it, follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

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